The market imperative for higher teacher pay

VICTORIA will need to immediately recruit teachers from interstate and overseas to avoid a shortage of high school teachers, according to an internal report to the Brumby Government.

That might explain the recent pay rise for teachers. But will it be enough to compete in the global market for graduate teachers?

Since Thatcher gouged the British economy of sufficient capacity to train and supply its own teachers, Britain has been absorbing graduates from around the Commonwealth, Australia included, for more than two decades. Straight out of college, Australian Graduates can earn $AUD80—120,000 in Britain or any number of wealthy Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

We’ll either have to create greater demand for teacher training courses by paying teachers more, or we’ll have to make do with whatever teachers we can poach from countries less affluent than ours. India, Indonesia, Africa, South America, perhaps? I doubt that’s what Boltheads have in mind when they deride those leftist teachers unions holding the public to ransom, but that’s the market for ya.